BBC sets up ‘Radio Langham’

A FULL-SCALE ‘mock-up’ of a local radio station is under construction at the BBC’s Langham Hotel offices in London.

Work is being pressed ahead urgently after the announcement that Merseyside, Leicester and Sheffield are to be the first three of the nine local radio stations to be run by the BBC.

It is hoped ‘Radio Langham’ will be ready early next month to take 50 trainees for these stations. Under the direction of Mr William Coysh, who has taken part in all previous BBC local radio experiments, they will undergo a series of seminars to equip them with the basics of local radio broadcasting.

The other six municipalities to be chosen to have their own local radio services will be announced by the Postmaster-General towards the end of the month. Meanwhile, there is a good deal of excitement in the first three towns to be selected.

Merseyside hopes to be the first local radio station on the air. All the local authorities and Liverpool University, together with a growing list of industrial concerns, have offered help.

At Leicester, the Corporation seems to be much more enthusiastic about a radio station than the city’s businessmen and industrialists.

On the basis of present plans it looks as if Radio Sheffield will probably be the most serious and public-service minded of the first three stations.